The following Australian provisional patent applications are hereby incorporated by cross-reference. For the purposes of location and identification, U.S. Patent application Ser. Nos. (USSN) are listed alongside the Austrailian applications from which the U.S. Patent applications claim the right of priority.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to the field of authentication utilizing an electronic means and has particular application to the authentication of consumable devices.
The process of authentication has particular application in any system (chip or software) that manipulates secure data. This includes Internet commerce, peer to peer communication, Smart Cards, Authentication chips, electronic keys, and cryptographic equipment. Whilst the description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention assumes a System/consumable relationship, it is a trivial matter to extend the protocol for other uses. An example is Internet commerce, where each consumer is effectively the consumable, and the Shop is the System. Another usage is Smart Cards, where each smart card can have a unique key, known to the System.
Existing solutions to the problem of authenticating consumables have typically relied on physical patents on packaging. However this does not stop inferior refill operations or clone manufacture in countries with weak industrial property protection. Consequently a much higher level of protection is required.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a protocol system that allows for an increased veracity of authentication.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an authentication system for determining the validity of an attached unit to be authenticated comprising: a central system unit for interrogation of first and second secure key holding units; first and second secure key holding objects attached to the central system unit, wherein the second key holding object is further permanently attached to the attached unit; wherein the central system unit is adapted to interrogate the first secure key holding object so as to determine a first response and to utilize the first response to interrogate the second secure key holding object to determine a second response, and to further compare the first and second response to determine whether the second secure key holding object is attached to a valid attached unit.
The second secure key holding object can further include a response having an effectively monotonically decreasing magnitude factor such that, after a predetermined utilization of the attached unit, the attached unit ceases to function. Hence the attached unit can comprises a consumable product.
Further, the the central system unit can interrogate the first secure key holding object with a substantially random number to receives the first response, the central system then utilizes the first response in the interrogation of the second secure key holding object to determine the second response, the central system unit then utilizes the second response to interrogate the first secure key holding unit to determine a validity measure of the second response.
The system is ideally utilized to authenticate a consumable for a printer such as ink for an ink jet printer.
Indeed the preferred embodiment will specifically be discussed with reference to a consumable catridge containing ink and paper, in a camera system having an internal ink jet printer although the present invention is not limited thereto.